Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen

Carla Hall, an ebullient co-host of ABC’s The Chew and a former Top Chef contestant, has opened a love letter to her native Nashville on a Brooklyn corner, a sweet little diner where you order at the counter. The main event is Nashville hot chicken. Chicken plates include two sides—like cheddar-laced mac n’ cheese, smoky collards and candied yams—plus a buttermilk biscuit, sweet potato roll or cornbread. There are also Sunday supper-style family meals. Hall brines chicken parts in spicy pickle juice and rolls them in seasoned flour before frying them, resulting in a nubbly, crackling crust. Two other reasons to hit this Columbia Street spot: luscious banana pudding with vanilla shortbread and a view of Lower Manhattan.